Century-old retailer Modell’s Sporting Goods Inc. won bankruptcy court permission to halt its going-out-of-business sales and delay rent payments while restrictions on nonessential shopping remain in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

At a hearing Friday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newark, N.J., Judge Vincent F. Papalia said he would allow Modell’s to “mothball” its 134 stores rather than continue with liquidation sales.

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